Give Me a Break
by Tifa Tyndal
Summary: The 'final' battle has come but not all goes as planned. Fed up, Naraku decides to take a vacation while the Inuyasha gang is left to pick up the pieces. Chapter three: Delve into the Mind of Evil posted!
1. Finest Moment

**Give Me a Break**

**A Fan Fiction by Tifa Tyndal****  
**

**Chapter One/Prologue- Finest Moment**

**Summery:** The 'final' battle has come but not all goes as planned. Fed up, Naraku decides to take a vacation while the Inuyasha gang is left to pick up the pieces.

**Disclaimer:** Oh! Oh! I now own a chapter story! Yay! Um.. but I don't own _Inuyasha._ At least I don't _think_ so...

**Spoiler Warning:** This a bit of a parody so honestly, none of these things are spoilers. No, none of these events happen in the series. I can't be certain about the manga though since I haven't gotten to far in it. I don't think I'm that good of a guesser though.

**Author's Note and Time-line:** This half humorous, half 'dramatic' parody-like fan fiction takes place during the time period when Naraku has most of the jewel yet doesn't have a barrier... does that time period exist? If it doesn't then let's just imagine it does, 'kay?

-

_This has got to be it!_ Kagome's mind screamed as she notched her last arrow. They had been fighting for hours and had gotten nowhere. This had to be the final battle. There was no escape for anyone.

Carefully, she observed her surroundings. Inuyasha was sending Wind Scar after Wind Scar at Naraku while Sesshomaru rose any dead humans (he'd already risen Sango three times, Miroku twice, Shippo eight times, and Kagome four) and fought off the lesser demons by the hundreds. Miroku couldn't use his wind tunnel so was killing any demons that came back to life (via whatever means they usually did). Sango was on Kirara and fighting Kagura who was fighting back half-heartedly. Shippo was hiding with Myoga as they thought of ways that they might be useful even though they didn't plan to exit their hide-out. Koga and his wolf-demons were protecting Kagome valiantly. No demon could even touch her. Since she was the only one living that could purify the jewel she was vital to everyone thus an entire tribe was assigned to protecting her.

Kagome took a deep breath. After using up all but one of her arrows to kill any demon that snuck up on various members of the wolf tribe she was ready to finish the battle. She secretly reveled in the moment before she would yell something threatening and fire her arrow at Naraku. _This is going to be my finest moment. I'm actually gonna kill the killer._

"Naraku!" That effectively made everyone turn and forget all the demons that they were fighting. Time seemed to stop. "You will no longer hurt my FRIENDS!" Yep, that was valiant enough. Kagome aimed for Naraku's heart and let the arrow fly.

The arrow glowed pink as it streaked through the sky. It was aimed perfectly. All eyes watched it as it flew to Naraku's heart. Naraku's own eyes were growing wider by the second. He seemed to think that it was all over. Kagome smirked in satisfaction. The second that the arrow took to reach its' target seemed like eternity until finally it...

Pink light streamed from where the arrow hit and a cracking sound was heard. Kagome and Inuyasha both gulped collectively. They had only seen and heard something like this one other time. Everyone else seemed to think that it was killing Naraku when in truth...

The jewel shattered.

Shards flew everywhere somehow missing every demon that they could had embedded in.

Kagome tried to force herself into denial even though the scene before her was almost an exact replica of that fateful day...

Inuyasha's heart dropped to his stomach... he was so close. So close. He couldn't even bring himself to be mad at Kagome.

_At least we can still beat Naraku,_ The ever logical Miroku thought as he turned his eyes to where Naraku... stood. _Hey... where'd Naraku go?_

A low growl broke the silence. All eyes turned to person responsible: Sesshomaru. Once Sesshomaru was certain everyone saw him he rolled his eyes and gracefully exited. The forgotten Jaken scrambled after him.

All the lesser demons fled, seeing that their master had retreated taking Kagura and Kanna with him.

Shippo and Myoga carefully exited their shelter.

Kirara landed gently to let Sango down.

Koga shrugged, stretched his running legs, gave Kagome a peck on her cheek, and took off into a run, his wolves trailing behind him.

Kohaku just looked confused.

A collective sigh was let out as Inuyasha looked around at his companions.

"What now?"

--------------

Naraku stormed into a castle, a look on his face that clearly read 'I have a monster headache, leave me alone'. "Kagura," His voice boomed as he threw himself down on a cushion. She was sent ahead to prepare the castle grounds for him (AKA get rid of all the petty humans).

Kagura appeared, shaking a few stray dogs off her arm, "What do'ya want?"

Naraku blew his bangs out of his eyes and stared at the ceiling. "I think I want to take a vacation."

Kagura's eyes grew big. "A-A vacation?"

Naraku nodded. "I'm sick of this. I'll let Inuyasha and Kagome find all the jewel shards then I'll come and take them all. I still can't believe that after all my trouble she shattered it. I hope her stupid conscience pokes and prods at her for the rest of eternity."

"Oh, yeah, that's cruel," Kagura muttered sarcastically under her breath.

"Anyway, I'll be leaving tomorrow morning to search for a good vacation spot. I'm leaving you in charge," If Naraku had heard Kagura he made no indication that he had.

Kagura was taken aback, "You're leaving _me_ in charge?"

"Why not?" Naraku shrugged, handing Kagura a piece of paper. "Here's the list of all you need to do while I'm gone. Don't go into the late castle lord's study. It's now my room. Go in it an I will lop your head off."

Kagura mumbled something incoherent and took the paper.

"Good!" Naraku exclaimed. "I'm going to take a well deserved rest before departing tomorrow. Go'way." And with that Kagura left and Naraku laid down to sleep.

-

**End Chapter One/Prologue**

**-**

I know this chapter was a bit short but I hope that the rest of the chapters will be longer... much longer. I already have the whole thing outlined out but if anyone has any last-minute suggestions leave them in a review or PM me; I will read them and consider them carefully.. I left some wiggle room in my plot. I hope you liked this and don't feel like throwing tomatoes at me for breaking the jewel again! I'm not fond of tomatoes... try strawberries. : ) -**The Author**


	2. Over Again

**Give Me a Break**

**A fanfiction by Tifa Tyndal****  
**

Chapter 2- Over Again

**Disclaimer: ** Ok, so I'm still not sure if these are needed for every chapter... I do suppose if suddenly (before I write another chapter) I'm given the show _Inuyasha _then I might need to tell you that I _do _own it... but I don't now!

-

Is was raining as the jewel hunters stumbled into Kaede's village. Opening her door, the village priestess welcomed them inside. "What is the news of your travels?" She asked as she prepared tea and eyed Kohaku, the newest addition to the group.

The group sat silently by the fire to dry off but no one said a word. Finally, Inuyasha broke the silence, "We failed."

Kagome shot him a sharp look, "I thought we were going to let Kohaku tell it."

Inuyasha sulked silently as Kaede looked expectantly at Kohaku. "And who might you be?" She asked the boy.

"I'm," Kohaku swallowed nervously. "I'm Sango's little brother. They asked me to tell you what happened since I'm the least biased."

Kaede sat down, having handed out the tea cups. "And what do ye have to say?"

Kohaku cleared his throat, looked down, then, seemingly gathering his courage, looked the elder lady in the eyes. "There was a large battle. Naraku was weakened and all the jewel shards were in one place. Sorta. Miss Kagome had two and Naraku had the rest."

Kaede nodded for him to continue.

"Everyone was fighting. Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's brother, included along with Koga, the leader of the wolves. Neither side seemed to be winning so Miss Kagome tried to fix that." Kohaku coughed a little before resuming his story. "She shot an arrow at Naraku but instead hit the Shikon no Tama. It shattered into many pieces."

Kaede's serene face gave away no surprise.

"Naraku fled and Sesshomaru and Koga left. All the demons we were fighting also fled. Now... the jewel shards have to be gathered again." Kohaku finished, dropping is hand limply to his teacup which he promptly took up and drank from.

Kaede looked at the rest of the group. "Ye are devastated, are ye not?" She asked calmly.

Kagome nodded for the group. "Yes, I suppose so. I'm-I'm really sorry."

Kaede sighed, "It cannot be changed, Kagome. What will you do now?"

"Find them again I suppose," Kagome said quietly.

Kaede nodded.

"I'll tell you what we're gonna do!" Shippo's loud voice startled them all. "We're gonna find them quicker than ever! And then we're gonna defeat Naraku once and for all!" He declared, pumping his fist.

What Shippo meant to be a pep talk did nothing as Kagome dropped her eyes to the floor and sighed.

"I can't believe it," Inuyasha muttered. "How could I have let him get away? How could I have failed Kikyo again?"

"No, it's my fault," Kagome said, trying to reassure him.

"I shouldn't have taken my eyes off him." Inuyasha clutched his head.

"I think you both are being too hard on yourselves," Miroku said sternly. "This is simply a minor setback. We forced Naraku to retreat, isn't that good?"

"But we shattered the jewel!" Inuyasha threw up his hands. "After all that work... we've got to do it over again!"

Inuyasha missed the tears the glistened in Kagome's eyes as he continued to agonize.

"I mean, just think! It's been a year! A whole year and finally when it seems we've gotten somewhere the jewel breaks! The shards aren't even in one place anymore! At least with Naraku they were together!"

"Now, Inuyasha, I don't think you're being fair," Sango's eyebrows bunched up. "Kagome didn't mean to."

"I agree with Sango," Miroku put in. "Naraku doesn't have the shards and that's all the matters."

"All that matters?" Inuyasha yelled angrily. "He didn't have any shards to begin with! We're back to square one! How on earth can you be so calm? I can't stand this!"

"Fine!" Kagome stood up, angry and sad tears evident in her eyes, "I'm sorry! It's all my fault and I should never had come here! If I hadn't come the jewel never would have broken! Shippo's parents would still be alive, Sango's village too! Miroku would have probably already killed Naraku! And now I've only made it worse!" Kagome stormed out of the hut into the rain before anyone could stop her or hear her sobs.

Inuyasha's ears drooped. Why was it that every time he blew up he regretted it one way or another? Now he had hurt Kagome and made her wish that she had never met him. His throat tightened. _So this is what true rejection feels like._ He thought sadly.

"Nice going, Inuyasha," Shippo's sarcastic voice cut the silence in the hut. "Now she may never come back."

"Did you have to yell like that? Didn't you see that you were hurting Kagome's feelings?" Sango also reprimanded Inuyasha.

"I know you're upset but you don't have to take it out on Kagome," Miroku's voice got deep.

"Well thank goodness I have such supportive friends to help me feel better," Inuyasha mumbled sarcastically and exited the hut.

Kohaku blinked slowly. "May I have some more tea...?"

Meanwhile...

Naraku stood in the frozen tundra. Snow stuck to his face and hair as the wind whipped his clothes around. He looked around for someone to hurt.

A small band of penguins waddled by. The adults penguins steered their children away from the strange man in the make-up.

Naraku's eyes lit up. Now _there_ was a peaceful little family he could wreak havoc on. His tentacles crept out from beneath his clothing. Dripping miasma, they searched out the animals. But before they could reach them the tentacles stopped in their tracks.

"Eh?" Naraku put more force behind the tentacles. They wouldn't budge. So, reaching down he fingered them. They had frozen solid. The penguins waddled by safely and happily.

"I don't think this place is going to work for me."

-

Kagome fled out into the pouring rain. She hadn't actually thought through her escape so she was surprised when she was suddenly soaked. _Shoot,_ She thought as she ran for the cover of a shady oak. Once seated there she was free to cry with the rain. _I can't believe that I shattered the jewel. It was terrible! _

Kagome hugged her knees to her chest. How could she have ruined everything for everyone? _It's all my fault._

"Kagome!" Inuyasha was running towards her. Kagome hid her face on her legs.

_Oh, great. The last person I want to see right now._

"Kagome," Inuyasha knelt in front of Kagome. "Kagome, I'm sorry." _Whoa, this apologizing thing is getting easier._

Kagome lifted her tear-stained face up slightly. "You were right. I should have never come here."

"I never said that," Inuyasha turned to sit beside her. "I'm glad you came."

"But I just ruined everything for everybody! I'm a murderer!" Kagome sobbed into hands.

Inuyasha snatched her hands and forced her to look at him. "Don't say that. None of that stuff was your fault. You did none of it."

Kagome's eyes grew wide. She had never seen Inuyasha so urgent.

Suddenly Inuyasha laughed shortly and leaned back. "Plus, Kagome, you forget. If you had never come I would still be stuck to that tree."

Kagome's lips made a silent 'oh' as she turned her head to look at Inuyasha. "I forgot."

"Well don't," Inuyasha's voice was gruff as he ruffled her hair. "We'll find those shards fine. And we need you, Kagome. I, need you."

Kagome looked up at Inuyasha. "You're serious?"

Inuyasha smiled. "Yes. Plus, if we really had completed the jewel I wouldn't have an excuse to drag you back here, would I?"

"Inuyasha..." Kagome was breathless. Had _Inuyasha_ just said _that_?

Inuyasha looked down and blushed. He really wasn't used to apologizing to Kagome first. However, something had come over him and he had. He had to be careful who he vented to next time, maybe use Sesshomaru. "Alright!" Inuyasha snapped his head up. "Let's get out of the rain!" And with that, he pulled Kagome back towards the hut.

-

Naraku sighed and looked around at his newest surroundings. It wasn't too terribly bad... He even felt a sort of kinship with a few of the locals. He could rise in power and take over the entire place. Oh, what a nice idea for a vacation.

Naraku relished the idea of living at the bottom of the ocean.

"This is the life," Naraku leaned back on a large rock a picked of a few small fish, that is, after playing with them a little. A couple octopi swam by and he poked them a little with his own tentacles. They seemed unfazed. They only squirted a substantial amount of ink at his face before moving on.

"Argh!" Naraku wiped the black substance from his eyes. He'd get those octopi back if it were the last thing he did! So off he went.

It was slightly hard to find the creatures, seeing that they moved away quickly but soon enough he spotted them. _Time to do some squirting of my own,_ Naraku decided as she stealthily moved towards the animals.

"DIE!" Naraku released full blow a cloud of miasma at the octopi who, of course, were disintegrated. "Mwahahahahaha!!!" Naraku relished the feeling of power. If the ocean were a room his maniacal laugh would have echoed eerily through the rafters. As it was his laugh was still pretty loud. The feeling of absolute evil overcame him and he felt the rush of maliciousness. Then:

"I'm bored. This place stinks."

-

**End Chapter Two**

-

This was a little longer, right? I didn't plan for this to get dramatic really, it just ended up that way... But I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter focuses mostly on Naraku and isn't nearly as serious as this one! -**The Author**


	3. Bridge: Delve into the Mind of Evil

**Chapter 3- Bridge: Delve into the Mind of Evil**

**Disclaimer:** Again, the ownership of said characters belongs to someone other than me.

-

Naraku looked around. This might just do.

He was in what would later be called the Amazon Rainforest but to him it was just another place.

"Humid," He mumbled. "But tolerable."

The forest was dark for the large, sunlight-greedy leaves above kept most light from peeking through. Tall trees surrounded him sporting a variety of mosses and parasites. Under his feet was hard ground that he could easily walk on. Birds flew overhead chirping almost happily at the new arrival.

Naraku nodded. This'll do.

-

Shippo was skipping along beside Kagome when he felt a small tickling on his neck. Moving his hand to the irritation he slapped a mosquito flat.

"Annoying little bugger," He mumbled before moving on.

-

Naraku ran. He ran for his life, his sanity, and his clothes.

"Nobody told me there'd be BUGS!"

Now normally, Naraku could deal with mosquitoes, he had a hoard of them at his command. But no, these were different. They didn't die! They were like...like... Kikyo! You thought you killed them when in truth they were hiding behind your ear!

Red. Blue. Black. Yellow. Orange. Colors flashed before Naraku's eyes as the creatures that proceeded to attack him from all sides surrounded him. He released miasma... it only seemed to empower the poisonous creatures. Even the spiders with which he felt a special kinship began to annoy him.

So, Naraku took a deep breath... And screamed.

-

Better... the next place _had _to be better, Naraku decided. Somewhere where bugs didn't exist. Somewhere not so... _moist_.

-

Miroku stretched a little during the short resting time they had. Smacking his lips, he found he was thirsty. So reaching for the bag at his waist he took a long, refreshing drink.

-

Finally, the perfect place. Perfectly quiet, perfectly dry, and perfectly free of bugs. OK, so the Sahara Desert wasn't the most interesting place but maybe Naraku could get some rest.

So, settling into the sand, Naraku sat.

And sat.

And plotted evil.

And got bored of that.

So he sat.

Naraku felt the heat beat on him and, believe it or not, he began to sweat. Around him sat sand... okay, so there were a few cacti here and there but mostly it was just sand. And do you know what staring at just sand does to someone after a while? You start imagining things.

"Die! Die! Die!" Naraku began to viciously attack a cactus. "Inuyasha! I told you not to follow me!" Then, "Ki-Kikyo! I'm sorry! You looked like Inuyasha!"

By this time night was falling and the air turned cooler. Naraku's sanity slowly came back to him as the night set in. He decided to find some water. So, in the darkness he walked... and stepped on a cactus. "Ow!" Naraku desperately tried to pull the thorns from the flesh on his foot. They stuck for a while but pretty soon his superiority won out and all he was left with was a sore foot.

"Maybe I won't get water tonight," Naraku muttered angrily and using one of his tentacles, he smacked the cactus hard. Liquid streamed from the broken plant. So, sniffing it, Naraku took a drink... and spat it out. "What is this stuff?" He tried to get the taste out of his mouth by spitting but he only succeeded in annoying himself further.

"FINE!" Naraku yelled at the ominously starless sky. "I'll just go to sleep!" And sleep he did... That is, until early the next morning when the heat began to fry him.

Naraku let out a low sound, almost a growl, at the place he had chosen for his vacation. But, in his opinion, he was a rather second-chance-y guy so he decided to give the desert one last chance.

However he conveniently forgot when he made that decision that he had absolutely nothing to do.

-

Sango walked beside Kirara. Looking at the monk to her left, she didn't pay enough attention to where she was going and ran--smack! --into a branch. For a moment she saw black spots before her eyes and her head throbbed but pretty soon she felt reassuring arms around her and she settled into Miroku's comforting embrace.

-

Three hours. He had been staring at the sun for three hours. What else was there to do in the desert?

"I give up," Naraku stood up to leave. But there was one little problem... he couldn't see anything. "Wha-?" Blinking and looking around Naraku strained his eyes to see something, anything. But nothing appeared.

"Shoot," Naraku rubbed his eyes and tried again. Nothing. "I'm bl-bl-blind!" Panic washed over him like a river. He began running in circles in a blind (no pun intended) rage. "It's all that Kagome's fault! All her fault for breaking the jewel in the first place! Yes. I know, when I get the jewel I'll get my sight back... but how will I get the jewel? Oh shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot."

So frantic was Naraku's panicking he didn't even noticed when he began to see bits of light before his eyes. Yes, his sight was coming back.

"-I'm gonna kill the sun, yes, that's it. I'll kill it. It doesn't deserve to... to..." Naraku blinked the world slowly came back into view. "Oh."

No one ever ran that fast from a desert.

-

Kagome clasped her hands tightly together around Inuyasha. The hill before them was a little higher than usual and she didn't want to risk falling off of her hanyou friend's back.

-

Naraku stretched and grinned at his new vacationing home. The mountains. They would later be called the Himalayas, home to Mt. Everest, the highest mountain known to man; but all Naraku saw was lots of caves for him to plot in a quite a few mountain-dwelling creatures to torture.

"This is the life," Naraku laid back on a particularly large rock and sighed. "So peaceful... hey, since when did I like peace?" Naraku stood up suddenly. It _was_ quiet...

-

Inuyasha sat at the top of a hill and threw rocks absentmindedly down the slope. Kagome sat nearby cooking their lunch. One of his rocks missed and hit Shippo (who was currently chasing a few interesting snails) on the head.

"Oww!" Shippo whined running to Kagome.

Inuyasha groaned and waited for the 'sit!'s to come.

-

Then, there was a rumbling overhead and Naraku was completely buried in a rockslide.

"Ow..." Naraku whined from several feet under. "Why'd I have to go and open my big mouth and curse the peace?"

After a few 'die pathetic hunks of rock!'s and a lot of released miasma Naraku was free of the pile of rocks. Then, looking around, Naraku found a spot with no rocks overhead. Actually it was a pretty high spot and Naraku (like anyone would) felt a sort of rush as he felt the wind blow back his hair.

"I'm king of the world!" Naraku shouted at the top of his lungs.

Unfortunately, Naraku's excitement was to be short lived for as soon as he had caught his breath from such a loud yell another rumbling was heard. Naraku at first thought he was safe for he had truly picked a spot safe from rock falls from _over_head...

That's when the cliff fell out from beneath Naraku's feet.

Naraku grumbled a few choice words as he dislodged himself from more rocks. Brows wrinkled, a frown was set in, and a decision was made.

"The next place I go, will have people."

And so, Naraku took off in search of a place with the human life-forms he so despised yet were smart enough to know when a place is just a little bit _too_ exotic.

-

End Chapter 3

-

Sorry, sorry, sorry. It took me so long to update because… well, (wince) my muse was mean and didn't inspire me enough so I could write. But I do hope to get back into a regular rhythm! The chapter title was from my brilliant sister. In case you didn't notice the little flashes to Inuyasha's group depicted minor cases of what was about to happen to Naraku. Look closely and you'll see! –The Author


End file.
